Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, and incontinence pads are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body, and to prevent soiling of the body and clothing by such discharges. It is generally desirable to provide absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins which maintain contact with the body of the wearer when they are worn, and which conform as closely as possible to the body of the wearer. Such body conforming capability is believed to increase the effectiveness of the sanitary napkin by reducing the possibility that menses will travel around the perimeter of the sanitary napkin and soil the wearer's body and/or clothing.
There have been a number of recent efforts to provide sanitary napkins and other absorbent articles with improved fit characteristics. Such recent efforts are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,264 issued Aug. 21, 1990 to Osborn, U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,906 issued Apr. 16, 1991 to Osborn; U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,959 issued Mar. 30, 1993 to Buell; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/605,583 entitled "Sanitary Napkin Having Components Capable of Separation In Use" filed Oct. 29, 1990 in the name of Visscher et al.; and PCT International Publication Number WO 92/07535 published May 14, 1992 in the name of Visscher et al. In addition, the following commonly assigned and copending U.S. Patent Applications provide sanitary napkins having internal shaping components and lifting members: "Sanitary Napkin Having a Pleated Lifting Member," Ser. No. 08/170,461 filed Dec. 20, 1993 in the name of McFall; and "Sanitary Napkin Having an Internal Shaping Component," Ser. No. 08/170,487 filed Dec. 20, 1993 in the name of Bergman.
There have also been efforts to provide a disposable absorbent articles having two or more absorbent portions or layers. The following documents describe disposable absorbent articles having multiple absorbent portions or layers: Great Britain Patent 23,103 issued Oct. 28, 1915 to Mycroft; U.S. Pat. No. 3,071,138 issued Jan. 1, 1963 to Garcia; U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,382 issued Apr. 4, 1972 to Easley et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,107 issued May 4, 1976 to Chesky et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,058 issued Jul. 20, 1982 to Pierce; U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,876 issued May 20, 1986 to Van Tilburg; U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,325 issued Nov. 27, 1990 to Sherrod et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,344 issued Jan. 29, 1991 to Reising et al.; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/827,555 entitled "Sanitary Napkin Having Transversely Segmented Core," filed in the name of Osborn, III on Jan. 28, 1992 (continuation of Ser. No. 07/630,451 filed Dec. 19, 1990).
While the sanitary napkins disclosed in these references represent advancements in the art, the search for new and different ways of improving body contact has continued.
It is especially desirable that the sanitary napkin maintain contact with and conform to the body of the wearer under dynamic conditions (when the wearer walks, sits, etc.). For instance, when the sanitary napkin is worn, the sanitary napkin is subjected to lateral compression by the upper portions of the wearer's thighs. The forces applied by the wearer's thighs generally tend to distort the shape of the sanitary napkin, reducing the size of the target the sanitary napkin provides.
One attempt to control the effect of these compressive forces is disclosed in UK Patent Application 2,168,612A, published Jun. 25, 1986. The UK patent application discloses a sanitary towel with a resilient insert positioned within the core or adjacent to a face of the core that is intended to inhibit permanent distortion of the towel. The UK application teaches that the insert resists lateral deformation of the sanitary towel, but does not teach or disclose a sanitary napkin having body conforming properties.
It is also desirable to provide a sanitary napkin which conforms to the wearer's body while maintaining the comfort of the wearer. Accordingly, a desirable sanitary napkin should maintain contact with the wearer's body, yet be capable of repeated elastic deflection to allow the wearer to comfortably assume different positions and to perform different activities.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, which intercepts menses by conforming to the shape of the female urogenital region.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having a bi-level core and a bi-level body facing surface.
Another object of the present invention to provide a sanitary napkin having separate core segments.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a sanitary napkin having a lifting member for displacing a central absorbent core segment relative to side absorbent core segments.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.